VERSION C

Please write your name on both this exam and on your answer sheet.
WRITE YOUR VERSION ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET.

Select the best answer for each question.

1. The Messenger spacecraft:
a) Orbited Mercury.
b) Landed on Mars.
c) Flew by Pluto.
d) Searched for extrasolar planets.
e) Flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

a) Orbited Mercury.

2. The semi-molten upper layer of the Earth's mantle, which is responsible for plate tectonics, is called the:
a) asthenosphere.
b) ionosphere.
c) ozone layer.
d) Coriolis layer.
e) Aurora layer.

a) asthenosphere.

3. Mars:
a) has no global magnetic field.
b) has an atmosphere which is mostly hydrogen and helium.
c) has a radius about twice that of Earth.
d) has an atmosphere which is almost all nitrogen.
e) has a very strong Greenhouse Effect.

a) has no global magnetic field.

4. Which of the following objects has the biggest Greenhouse Effect?
a) Earth.
b) Mars.
c) Venus.
d) Mercury.
e) The Moon.

c) Venus.

5. Which of the following objects spins three times on its axis (relative to the stars), for every two orbits around the Sun (relative to the stars)?

a) Venus.
b) Pluto.
c) Mars.
d) The Moon.
e) Mercury.

e) Mercury.

6. Which of the following objects has active volcanoes?
a) Mercury.
b) The Moon.
c) Io.
d) Callisto.
e) All of the above.

c) Io.

7. The ozone layer:
a) Produces the Earth's magnetic field.
b) Is responsible for the Greenhouse Effect.
c) Absorbs UV from the Sun.
d) Causes the sky on Earth to appear blue.
e) Is the Earth's primary protection against the solar wind.

c) Absorbs UV from the Sun.

8. Carbon dioxide:
a) Is a Greenhouse gas.
b) Absorbs most of the UV light from the Sun.
c) Is the main ingredient of the Earth's atmosphere.
d) Is the main ingredient of Jupiter's atmosphere.
e) Is our main protection from the solar wind.

a) Is a Greenhouse gas.

9. Which of the following features are only rarely seen on the surface of the Moon?
a) Craters.
b) Hardened lava flows.
c) Volcanic mountains.
d) Material ejected by a collision.
e) Rilles.


c) Volcanic mountains.

10. Caloris Basin is:
a) A large impact basin on the far side of the Moon.
b) A large impact basin of the western coast of South America.
c) A large impact basin on Mercury.
d) A new park in downtown Johnson City.
e) The top of an active volcano in Hawaii.

c) A large impact basin on Mercury.

11. Venus:
a) Has an atmosphere that is mostly CO₂.
b) Has an atmospheric pressure that is 10^-4 times that of Earth.
c) Has the most number of craters on its surface, per area, of the terrestrial planets.
d) Is orbiting the Sun in an opposite direction compared to most of the planets in the solar system.
e) Has a global magnetic that is about twice that of Earth.

a) Has an atmosphere that is mostly CO₂.

12. Seismic L waves:
a) Travel through both the liquid outer and solid inner cores of the Earth.
b) Travel through the solid mantle of the Earth, but not the liquid outer core.
c) Only travel through liquids, not through solids.
d) Just travel through the atmosphere of the Earth.
e) Only travel across the surface of the Earth; they do not penetrate the interior of the Earth.

e) Only travel across the surface of the Earth; they do not penetrate the interior of the Earth.

13. Which of the following objects has the largest proportion of methane in its atmosphere?
a) Jupiter.
b) Earth.
c)Neptune.
d) Uranus.
e) Saturn.

c)Neptune.

14. An object in-between a planet and a star in terms of mass, which may have some ²H fusion, is called a/an:
a) Jovian planet.
b) Extrasolar planet.
c) Meteoroid.
d) Kuiper Belt Object.
e) Brown dwarf.

e) Brown dwarf.

15. In our atmosphere, the troposphere is:
a) the outermost layer of the atmosphere.
b) another name for the ionosphere.
c) contains the ozone layer.
d) the bottom layer of the atmosphere.
e) the middle layer (50 - 100 km above the Earth's surface).

d) the bottom layer of the atmosphere.

16. Which planets have rings?
a) Saturn and Venus.
b) Saturn and Jupiter.
c) Saturn and Uranus.
d) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
e) Saturn and Neptune.

d) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

17. Potassium-40 spontaneously decays into Argon-40, a noble gas, with a half-life of 1.3 billion years. If a rock has three times as much Argon-40 as Potassium-40, how much time has passed since the rock solidified?
a) 1.3 billion years.
b) 2.6 billion years.
c) 3.9 billion years.
d) 5.2 billion years.
e) 13 billion years.

b) 2.6 billion years.

18. What is a subduction zone?
a) The volume of space outside of the Earth, through which the Earth's magnetic field lines run.
b) The ionized upper atmosphere of the Earth.
c) A place where two tectonic plates are pulling apart, and new crust is being produced.
d) A place where two tectonic plates are colliding, and one plate is being pushed underneath the surface.
e) A place where two tectonic plates are sliding past each other, like the San Andreas fault in California.

d) A place where two tectonic plates are colliding, and one plate is being pushed underneath the surface.

19. The atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus is about:
a) 10^-15 times that of Earth.
b) 10^-11 times that of Earth.
c) 10^-4 times that of Earth.
d) 1.6 times that of Earth.
e) 90 times that of Earth.

e) 90 times that of Earth.

20. The Appalachian Mountains:

a) are a young mountain range currently being formed by the on-going collision of two tectonic plates.
b) are currently being formed by two tectonic plates pulling apart in a process known as sea floor spreading.
c) are currently being formed by hot spot volcanism.
d) are currently being formed by two tectonic plates sliding past each other.
e) are ancient mountains, pre-dating the split-up of Pangaea.

e) are ancient mountains, pre-dating the split-up of Pangaea.